Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Rent Party! The Story of The Waldos & Show # 380

Following the break up of Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers in 1977, Walter Lure (one of the singer/guitarists in The Heartbreakers) continued to branch out musically. While most people don’t know that he wrote and sang about half the songs in the The Heartbreakers, there are a few additional interesting musical facts that some people may not be aware of. In the 80s he contributed guitar to three Ramones albums at the request of Johnny Ramone (Subterranean Jungle, Too Tough To Die and Animal Boy) in addition to this he played live in his own band that featured a revolving cast of musicians. In 1979 he released a single with a new group that he was part of called The Blessed. The single featured two tracks, “Deep Frenzy” and “American Bandstand”, but his time with the band was short lived. He would play under the name The Hurricanes and The Heroes, who released a single 1978 featuring the members of The Heartbreakers, minus Johnny Thunders which featured the songs “Too Much Junkie Business” and “Seven Day Weekend”. He eventually arrived at the band known as The Waldos.

The Waldos did not make too many recordings during their peak period as a band in the mid 80s, in 1993 they released a single titled Crazy Little Baby. In 1994 a full length album followed entitled Rent Party, which is the only full length studio album to be released by The Waldos. The band line up for this album featured Walter Lure (guitar/vocals), Tony Coiro (bass/vocals), Joey Pinter (guitar), and Jeff West on drums. The album was produced by Andy Shernoff of The Dictators and featured a collection of Walter Lure originals and a few cover songs. Rent Party features recordings of several songs which date back to Lure’s early days with The Heartbreakers, the most notable being the song “Flight”, which is a song that was never released officially with The Heartbreakers. It was however an early staple of the bands live set and a song that dates back to the earliest days with The Heartbreakers when Richard Hell was a member of the group. “Count Down Love” was another song that was actually written by Jerry Nolan (New York Dolls/Heartbreakers drummer), the other songs that have a connection to Lure’s past groups are the covers “Seven Day Weekend” originally a song by Gary U.S. Bond’s, but also a song that was played by both New York Dolls and The Heartbreakers, a sleazed up cover of Ray Charles “Busted”, and “Party Lights” a song originally done by Claudine Clark. These three songs alone have a deeper meaning, reflecting on themes that were often found in Lure’s past. One of the most poignant tracks featured on Rent Party is the Country Rock song “Golden Days”. The song, which also has an almost Pogues-like influence addresses Lure’s past in a sentimental, yet meaningful way.

Rent Party harnesses a sound and fidelity that is a not unlike his work with Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers, but one that is more fleshed out production-wise than LAMF. Listening to Rent Party one can’t help but wonder what the next album by The Heartbreakers would have sounded like if they did not break up in 1977, this is as close as you are going to get. The album features a depth that contrasts its party like atmosphere. Walter Lure proved to be a survivor of the scene he was a part of. Many of his band mate’s have fallen since the release of this album including Jerry Nolan (NY Dolls/Heartbreakers drummer), Johnny Thunders (NY Dolls/Heartbreakers), Waldos original drummer Charlie Sox, Waldos bassist Tony Coiro, and saxophonist Jamey Heath. Walter Lure has continued to play live in New York City with different incarnations of The Waldos since the release of Rent Party, in between his gigs Walter worked on Wall St. as a stock broker (he is now in the financial district). Around 2006/2007, The Waldos started playing more frequently, Walter Lure released a live CD followed in 2007 titled Live In Berlin, which was recorded as a result of a European tour. The album is a solo album and it featured Walter teaming up with Dee Jaywalker. In 2009 and 2011, Lure reunited with original Waldos guitarist Joey Pinter, for some live shows. Currently The Waldos continue to play live (Lure also plays shows as a solo artist) and there has been an interest in a new album, but it is not sure what will materialize. As Lure said in an interview for soundcheckmagazine.net “Whatever happens, happens…. People keep asking me to write more songs and do a new album which I might do if I can write enough new songs to fill it - Who knows?”Rent Party is now somewhat of a rarity, the original pressings go for quite an expensive sum online. In 2009, Rent Party was reissued on vinyl.

10 comments:

Anonymous
said...

the WALDOS, thanks guys!can you fix the blog post ?Joey Pinter was the other guitar player you hear on Rent Party not the drummer,the drummer was Jeff West.Tony Coiro was the bass player, Walter doesn't work on wall street anymore but does still work in the financial district.Live In Berlin was a solo album he did with Dee Jay Walker,None of the other waldos were involved.38 minutes ago · Likethe WALDOS rent party CD was dedicated to charlie sox .rent party LP was dedicated to tony coiro,after tony died and joey did time in prison(long story), Walter was gonna quit music altogether but didn't thank god..the charges were overturned a little over a year later in that time Jamey Heath and Walters brother had also died Walter had started playing with the hip nips and Joe Rizzo who are Walters current NYC waldos..Joey lives in California now and Walter and joey still play together occasionally. Walter plays other places without the waldo's and just recently came back from a successful mini tour in the UK.20 minutes ago ·

Please correct the spelling of bassist Tony Coiro's name: NOT Cairo. Tony - Anthony - was my best friend. Usher at my wedding. Godfather to my son, Christopher. After his tour with Johnny Thunders' Heartbreakers, I hired him into IBM. Tony was the sweetest, gentlest, most generous, and most *charming* person I ever knew. He started out by forming "Mike Pardo and Straight Edge" in the Unionport Section of the Bronx in 1977. They eventually played in the Original Max's Kansas City a number of times. After that came "The Knots" with two singles on Ideal records, "Action" and "Heartbreaker" (on YouTube). Then a short stint with a band called The Eastsiders (no recordings; very Mink DeVille-influenced). Then Walter, Joey, Charley and "The Knots." Tony truly was the driving force behind "Rent Party," as Walter has stated many times.

Charlie od'd ,Tony died of liver cancer.Walter ,Jeff ,Joey Pinter,still alive.If you are lucky enough to catch Lure and Pinter together you may get a glimpse of NYCunderground rock and roll at it's best.

I only knew Tony & Charlie as members of The Waldos, but both were always really nice guys.

Tony was always especially friendly. I remember one day I found myself driving east on the Long Island Expressway. A car drew even with me on the right and we looked at each other...TONY! We both grinned and went on our way.

I was quite saddened when both Charlie and Tony passed. Really good guys.

Back in the late 80s, early 90s, the Continental Divide (3rd Ave, just above St. Mark's and right next door to St. Mark's Pizza!) had quite the scene going. It had begun with The Senders playing on Monday nights in October of '88. These shows were no charge. And back then, the place still served food. I was at the first edition of what later became known as The SenderThing on a date. I doubt there were more than 5 people there for the show besides us...if that. But the next week there were 10. And then 20. They continued into November, at which point more people started to show up.

The Senders took December off, but came back in January and February. Pretty soon, the place was jammed every Monday night. And they'd have guest bands - like The Waldos, Devil Dogs, DaWillys, Headless Horsemen, etc. - open. And other times, they'd also have Walter Lure join them onstage for a couple songs. And sometimes Johnny Thunders would join the party. (Note: Johnny was a member of The Senders for a couple weeks in '79.)

Typically, The Senders would do 2 months of Mondays, then have another band - like the ones I mentioned earlier - take over for a month. So we'd sometimes get a month of Monday nights with The Waldos. Of course, these bands - when they weren't doing the Monday night residency - were also playing weekend gigs at the club. And gigs elsewhere. It was a pretty fantastic time.

Really, the idea that Monday night was such a happening time was great. The place was absolutely stuffed with people. Beautiful girls, tons of fans and lots of musicians ready for a great time.

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